Big data analytics is the process of examining large data sets to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, market trends, and customer preferences. Big data refers to data that is too large to be handled by traditional data processing systems. Sources of big data include social media, sensors, mobile devices, and call detail records. Big data is used in various domains like business intelligence, design and engineering. Reasons for the importance of big data include increasing innovation, improving customer satisfaction, sharpening competitive advantages, enabling narrow customer segmentation, and reducing downtime.